Know Who the Infamous Zodiac Killer Is? You Could Get Rich!

The nation's leading civilian authority on the infamous Zodiac serial killings of the 1960s hopes to raise a $100,000 reward to find the California killer's identity after 45 years.

Tom Voigt, who runs Zodiackiller.com, a dangerous time-suck for anyone remotely interested in the case, has launched a gofundme page, writing, "This reward will be presented to whomever comes forward with evidence that leads to the case being closed and the killer identified."

The inspiration for the "Scorpio" villain in Dirt Harry and the subject of David Fincher's kick-ass 2007 Zodiac, the astrologically christened psychopath terrorized the San Francisco Bay area in the late 1960s after killing at least five people and sending ciphers and ominous messages to newspapers boasting of his crimes.

The unknown killer took a page from the Jack the Ripper playbook and used the media to increase awareness of his brand, which included shooting and stabbing young couples. He was actually better at making headlines than serial killing -- two men survived his attacks, although they were never able to provide positive identification. (In one case, the killer wore a hood as part of a genuinely spooky costume.)

Since his last confirmed killing, the murder of a San Francisco cab driver in 1969, the case has spawned a cottage industry, with armchair sleuths launching websites and writing books championing their favorite suspects. Several authors have accused their fathers (or stepfather, in one case) of the crimes; the latest of these books was released earlier this year. (Two authors also accuse their dads of killing Elizabeth Short, a.k.a. the Black Dahlia, making them the Forrest Gumps of infamous murders.)

While we don't hold out much hope that this crowdfunding will crack the case, we give Voigt props for helping keep the case alive. It's possible the Zodiac is still alive, and if so, it'd be nice to dish out a little justice.

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I contacted Tom Voigt in 2010 about a man who I believe is a killer here in British Columbia related to Vancouver missing women and women along the Highway of Tears and his reply to me was "F off, you're a kook!!" He is not legitimately interested in hearing any theories that aren't his own.

I have a blog to try to explain the story and I am trying to write a book, the horrifying details of the story take it's toll on me. I do not claim this man is indeed Zodiac, but i do believe he is a killer and I have found some bizarre circumstantial evidence that could link him to being Zodiac.

The California Penal Code specifically states that any
offense which cannot result in a defendant getting either the death penalty or
life imprisonment has a statute of limitations of six years, from commission of
the offense to the filing of charges.The last Zodiac Killer letter was sent on July 9, 1974.That means that, as of July 9, 1980, any
hoaxer who had sent the Zodiac letters would be immune from prosecution.If he wanted to, he could then write a book
entitled Inventing The Zodiac Killer:
How I Perpetrated The Greatest Hoax In True Crime History.Gary Stewart recently got an advance of
$100,000 for a book proposal that had to look a lot less interesting than
that.I'm sure that any hoaxer who
created the Zodiac Killer would get at least seven figures, with a sweet movie
deal thrown in.Plus, he could choose to
write under a pseudonyrm and avoid the embarrassment of public scrutiny.

It's now 34 years and counting, and still no book from the
hoaxer.

I'm guessing that's because there was no hoaxer.

And the greatest irony about the hoax is that even you don't
believe it.

As for Voigt, he's turned into a televangelist: he spends
more time asking for money than he does talking about the case.That's because he doesn't care about the
case; ZodiacKiller.com is simply a
means to an end, and means is what it's about.As its #1 contributor over the past four years, I Paypaled Voigt more
than $3,000, including $1,000 he supposedly needed last July because he was
being wheeled into surgery.Speaking of
surgery, Voigt then drove his double-bladed dagger into my back when he decided
I probably wasn't going to be adding to his bottom line again anytime soon.The attack came out of the blue, with no
warning, and he ignored my emails afterward. Frankly, I don't see how Voigt is "the nation's
leading civilian authority on the infamous Zodiac serial killings of the
1960s"; most anonymous posters on Zodiac message boards know the case
better than he does.When I've
challenged him on various points in the past, all he does is get very
quiet.Mike Butterfield knows the case
better than he does.

To anyone thinking about future contributions
to any fund Tom Voigt is associated with, I suggest saving your money and checking
out my blog:

According to the actual police department files from the original murder cases, there was no "Zodiac Killer," only some phony letters to the SF Chronicle claiming credit for some unrelated murders, followed by an exploitative book full of falsehoods by Robert Graysmith (real name: Robert Smith, Jr). This installment of my series of books on the subject explores in detail the cultural and literary environment that inspired the original Zodiac hoax, and the subsequent impact of Graysmith's highly fictionalized retelling of the story on our culture.

NOTE: If you'd like a free "study guide" for reading these documents (and for thoroughly debunking Robert Smith, Jr aka Robert Graysmith's "non" fiction book ZODIAC) you can start here: